Two types of garage door or moveable barrier operators are generally marketed for use in residential applications. A first type of garage door operator includes an overhead operator, and a second type of garage door operator includes a torsion bar mounted operator. Overhead operators can operate extension spring and torsion spring counter-balanced garage doors. Torsion bar mounted operators, however, can only be used on garage doors that use torsion counter balance springs. Some users prefer torsion bar mounted operators, because overhead operators, once installed, consume an area that is often in plain sight that can be considered an eye sore. In contrast, torsion bar mounted operators are mounted above the garage door opening and, therefore, are generally mounted out of sight.
Torsion bar mounted operators can monitor the force required for opening a garage door, but generally do not measure the force required to close a garage door. One conventional torsion bar mounted operator attempts to measure the force required to close a garage door while a garage door is closing. The operator, however, requires special fitting of a track guide system. In addition, operators that can be used interchangeably with both torsion spring systems and extension spring systems do not precisely measure the force required to open and/or close a garage door. Although some torsion bar mounted operators claim to measure the force required to close a garage door while the garage door is closing, the operators generally do not consider or take into account additional loading that can occur on a garage door. For example, if ice builds up on a garage door, conventional operators do not account for the additional force required due to the added weight of the ice, which can be a safety concern.
In addition, torsion bar operators generally cannot prevent the opening of a garage door when the door is in the closed position since the counter balance cables are not rigid. One method currently used to lock a garage door controlled with by torsion bar mounted operator requires the addition of a solenoid lock.